Around the turn of the New Year, if not before, a team’s chances for victory become greatly affected by their health relative to that of the other team. The New Orleans Pelicans are very familiar with being on the tipped side of that scale, but tonight they’ll have a health advantage over the defending NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers.
It’s still uncertain whether or not point guard Kyrie Irving will play, but even a less-than-100-percent Irving makes Cleveland less intimidating. Similarly, their lack of shooting guard depth leaves the team vulnerable on the wing: Both Mike Dunleavy and J.